The details of decriminalization: Designing a non-criminal response to the possession of drugs for personal use

Challenges for drug checking services in Scotland: a qualitative exploration of police perceptions

“…Participants described a general perception of a cultural shift within Police Scotland, at both local and national level, away from a focus on enforcement-based practices towards an openness to viewing drug use as a public health issue. This echoes the wider literature which suggests that such shifts are increasingly common internationally, albeit slowly, unevenly, and often with significant limitations [24,28,30,48,66]. This is also in line with recent steps in Scotland towards a more public-health approach to policing, including the aforementioned police carriage of naloxone pilot [54] and subsequent roll-out to all officers across Scotland, and the extension of Recorded Police Warnings to Class A drugs.…”

“…Importantly, participants described being supportive of legislative change to either increase the provision of diversionary activities, depenalise drug offences, or to fully decriminalise personal possession up to a threshold quantity. However, it is important to note the distinctions between these different approaches [28]. Whilst some endorsed removal of possession penalties from the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, others favoured retaining enforcement as a lever in diversionary schemes [67].…”

“…Literature highlights that marginalised groups are particularly susceptible to being targeted on the basis of belonging to a minority and/or marginalised group, which can often be discerned by particular indicators such as physical appearance [18,20,[68][69][70]. These examples of the use of discretion echo wider literature on the ways that discretion can be used to undermine public health objectives as well as support them [28,29,66]. Such issues thus present potential challenges under any set of arrangements short of de-jure decriminalisation of personal possession.…”

“…This term has been developed in a Scottish context due to its being seen as a more acceptable term amongst a wide range of stakeholders involved in dialogue on the policing and legal challenges facing proposed DCS. Participants tended to interpret the concept of enhanced support zones in two distinct ways: as an arrangement based on limiting police presence in the vicinity of the service and/or limiting the scope of police stop and search in cases of suspected personal possession; or as an agreement to enable police not to charge someone for personal possession, below a threshold quantity [28,63], within a specified zone.…”

“…Whilst there is substantial evidence on the negative impacts of enforcement-based practices on the health outcomes of PWUD, there is also increasing exploration of the ways in which policing practices may be altered to be more in line with public health goals [16,24,25,27,28]. Such an approach to policing has been termed in the literature 'public health' or 'harm reduction' policing.…”